Many software applications use geospatial data to enhance the user experience. Geospatial data is information that is both geographic and spatial pertaining to a location of natural or constructed features, objects, and/or structures. For example, latitude and longitude coordinates are a type of geospatial data. Geospatial data can be used to enhance application functions.
When geospatial data is integrated into a map display, each location point associated with geospatial data is typically represented as a graphical marker, icon, or indicator on a map display, collectively referred to as a “map marker.” When large data sets representing many points are mapped, the map markers may overlap. This overlap can occur where two or more points actually have the same location. In addition, overlap can also occur where points have different locations but the map markers representing the points overlap due to the zoom level of the map view. For example, where two points are located in different locations but in close proximity to each other, the map markers for the two points may overlap in a zoomed in view, but appear as distinct, non-overlapping map markers when the map is viewed in a zoomed out view.